GC, GCMS, LC and LCMS are techniques of performing analysis of trace chemicals in a wide range of sample matrices. In some examples, these techniques can be used to study biological matrices such as breath, blood, and urine; to study trace chemicals in food, water, and air; to detect odors in foods, beverages, products, and water supplies; and/or to analyze pharmaceuticals dissolved in water.
In some examples, samples for GC, GCMS, LC, and LCMS can be prepared using solvent extraction, also known as liquid-liquid extraction. Solvent extraction can include transferring one or more solutes from a feed solution to a solvent to form an extract, which can then be analyzed by GC, GCMS, LC, LCMS, or other analytical techniques, for example. In some examples, headspace analysis can be another approach for sample preparation and cleanup. Headspace analysis can include capturing the headspace gas contained in a sample vial holding a liquid or solid sample, for example. In some examples, the liquid or solid sample can fully or partially evaporate into the headspace gas so that when the headspace gas is captured, some or all of the sample is captured in a gaseous state. However, headspace analysis can traditionally suffer from poor sensitivity and limited volatility range due to the small gas phase sample size limitations of many techniques, the inability to concentrate or “enrich” the headspace compounds prior to instrumental analysis, and the inability to further extract chemicals out of the liquid or solid phase to enrich low volatility compounds. Thus, there exists a need for a device and method for quantitatively extracting samples for GC, GCMS, LC, or LCMS with improved sensitivity and volatility range.